'Run the Tide' Stars Taylor Lautner & Constance Zimmer Reveal What Inspires Them Most About Parenthood

Regardless of their success, actors Taylor Lautner and Constance Zimmer are at two very different points in their lives. While thriving in her career, Zimmer is in her forties, married, and has an eight-year-old daughter. Lautner, on the other hand, is navigating life in his mid-twenties, with a family of his own perhaps somewhere on the (unknown) horizon. With their new project Run the Tide, both actors are forced to think about parenthood in a way that's unfamiliar to them in real life. In the drama, Zimmer plays a drug addict and abusive mom, while Lautner takes on a father-figure role for his younger brother. The actors explain where they pull inspiration from in channeling these characters, as Lautner reveals what makes him well-suited to actually be a dad one day.

Lautner's character Rey means business when it comes to protecting and raising his younger brother Oliver (Nicos Christou). When his mother Lola (Zimmer) is released from prison and wants to take Oliver back, Rey doesn't go down without a fight, and he goes as far as kidnapping Oliver to give him a better life. Lautner explains how such paternal instincts are part of his real-life DNA. Mostly, it's his family that inspires him most.

"I’m lucky to be given two amazing parents, so I couldn’t really pull from that," the 24-year-old says. But the actor's most significant influence in this project is his special bond with his younger sister, Makena. "[That's] the biggest thing that helped... it’s just the two of us. We’re seven years apart and we’re extremely close," Lautner says. "She’s just my sister, but there is that bond that’s similar — they are each other’s world."

Although it's not happening anytime soon, Lautner admits that his family life and this role make him think about being a father down the line. "I do think about [being a dad]. I’m certainly not prepared to be one right now," he says. "I’m very family-oriented, I’ve loved kids my whole life. I look forward to that one day for sure."

Zimmer, on the other hand, explains how she had to play a type of mother completely foreign to her. "She’s the type of parent that I don’t know," says the actor. "I had to really go to places that are really hard to go to, being the opposite of what my instincts are." Zimmer says that as difficult as it was getting into that mindset, portraying this mother accurately was so important to her because these parents exist.

"It’s true. It happens. It’s not like a heightened reality," she explains. "I can’t compare how I’m a parent to Lola as a parent. I want it to be real and I want people who do have these experiences to feel like that’s how it feels. It sucks, it guts you. It’s out there," Zimmer says.

The experience of playing Lola makes Zimmer appreciate her life and daughter that much more. "I would definitely go home every night, hug my daughter and be like, ‘I would never be in a situation where I would hurt you,'" she says. "It was really emotional."

The film may not be the most lighthearted one the actors have done, but it doesn't make it any less significant — especially for them, personally.